The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a metropolitan transportation authority that operates various forms of public transit—bus, subway and elevated rail, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolley bus—that serves 3.9 million people in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.…

About

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a metropolitan transportation authority that operates various forms of public transit—bus, subway and elevated rail, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolley bus—that serves 3.9 million people in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. SEPTA also manages construction projects that repair, replace, and expand infrastructure and rolling stock.

SEPTA serves the combined city and county of Philadelphia, Delaware County, Montgomery County, Bucks County, and Chester County. SEPTA also serves New Castle County in Delaware, and Mercer County in New Jersey.

SEPTA has the 6th-largest U.S. rapid transit system by ridership, and the 5th largest overall transit system, with about 306.9 million annual unlinked trips. It controls 280 active stations, over 450 miles (720 km) of track, 2,295 revenue vehicles, and 196 routes. SEPTA also manages Shared-Ride services in Philadelphia and ADA services across the region. These services are operated by third-party contractors.

SEPTA is one of only two U.S. transit authorities that operates all of the five major types of transit vehicles: regional (commuter) rail trains, "heavy" rapid transit (subway/elevated) trains, light rail vehicles (trolleys), electric trolleybuses, and motor buses. The other is Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (which runs ferryboat service as well). SEPTA's headquarters are located at 1234 Market Street in Center City, Philadelphia.

On Wednesday, Philadelphia Air Management Services (AMS) issued a permit allowing SEPTA to move ahead with its proposed natural-gas power plant in Nicetown. Local environmentalists had fought the SEPTA proposal for…